The cost of anything, washing machine, car etc. etc. is usually less than the value of its component parts that go to make it, add to that labour, expertise etc..
When it comes to value any value placed on your car it is subjective, it is ‘What it is worth to you?’ To me my home, car etc. etc. are valueless, they are part of my life, but they have a function. To my family, when I’m gone, that WILL be a different situation.
There are a number of ways to look at the value of our cars. An old mechanic where I take my cars for testing once said to me that he didn’t like classic cars in ‘showroom’ condition because that is false and doesn’t show that the car has had a life so long as they are safe. At the time I disagreed with him, now, as I get older I appreciate his point and have come around to his way of thinking.
If you personally want a car just out of the showroom, and obtain premium prices when it is sold, don’t use it, keep it locked away. But it will disintegrate over time. The proof is in the pudding, the paint will oxidise, the bushes etc. will perish. My daughter owns a 1960 Standard 10 Companion, until recently only four known in the world. One was recently found locked away in a showroom in Australia, it had been a dealership demo, a few hundred miles on the clock, but everything had perished! But my daughter her car (daily if she could) and she loves it and the smiles and waves she gets whilst driving it.
My 1300 Dolomite, yes someone else modified it (badly), which I’m slowly correcting. I too have modified it, oil pressure gauge, smaller twin carbs etc. they have a function. But, it is still basically the same functional solid car I was looking for, for which I paid a premium because I thought that jobs I would do had been done, wrong and another story. To me it is a car, not showroom, as we say in Yorkshire “I haven’t got the brass”, and it’s brown, which I may eventually change myself, and, it gets driven winter and summer, but it is solid and I have made sure it is protected underneath.
I have driven Triumphs for over 40 years, I started with a 12/50 Herald. Why did I pay a premium for my Dolomite. Because I was sick of modern electronic crap that kept telling me it was sick, a Fabia. It was the first and only car I have purchased new, I looked after it, but the basis of the car was old, probably older than my daughter’s Standard because the engine they used was a Skoda Estelle, but with ECU etc. fitted. The car wasn’t sick, the ECU thought it was, it started with the temp sensor going, ending up with immobiliser, and other faults flashing up. So it went, now it would be an MOT failure, why, warning light issues. At least with my Dolomite I can fix it, not like the breakdown company who came to ‘fix’ my daughter’s Standard when the clutch seized (it was the slave), because he couldn’t plug it in he put it down to ‘miss fuelled’ and called a recovery vehicle!
To answer the question of value of Dolomites. YOUR CAR is what it is WORTH (not value) to you. If you want one out of the showroom, and have the brass go for it. If you want to own and drive a classic enjoy it and enjoy the response from other road users, see their smiles, waves etc., and possibly envy.
Steve
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